Byte Size: Conversational computer science

In this byte, we answer an excellent question from a listener that gets right at the heart of our discussions about fancy-sounding technological words that are ultimately not as magical as you think.

Computers just do what flawed humans tell them to do—they’re not capable of original thought, and they’re certainly not capable of thinking about things at a higher level than any human. In this byte, software engineering researcher David Widder explains the pitfalls of placing too much trust in computers.

“Hello World” is fun, but it’s more fun to build programs that do more things. We’ve created a guide to get you started writing Python code with all kinds of useful applications. You can find the companion material for this episode at https://learncswith.us/chapters/1-PythonBasics/3-PracticingPythonBasics.html

This byte is all about getting computers to save and remember information using variables. We chat with an expert about what variables are, why they’re useful, how they work, and how to use them.

When Charles Babbage designed the first ever mechanical computer in the early 19th century, instant ramen wouldn’t be invented for another 150 years. So what gives? It turns out that writing instructions for computers is exactly like making a quick meal. We’ll explain how and why this matters.

In ten minutes, you can be a programmer. This byte provides a tutorial for getting started writing code and building your first Python program.

Welcome! We’re Ellie and Matt. We’ve thought computers are super cool for a few decades now and we want to share everything we know with you. In our first byte, we clear the first hurdle of learning computing: what even is computer science, and why should anyone care?